Melbourne, Australia, viewed over the Yarra River at dusk. Photocredit: Robyn Mackenzie at Shutterstock
The background
The Economist Intelligence Unit, in its global liveability study, has placed London at no 55. Melbourne is the best city in the world in which to live, having beaten Vancouver, which was top last year; Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, are also in the top 10, whilst Brisbane is no 20. Manchester beats London, in at no 51. Melbourne has almost a perfect score, with a rating of 97.5 per cent. So why, even after the Olympics, is London so far down? Well, last year’s riots have a lot to do with it. Commentators are saying that Londoners don’t need a survey – we know we’re the best place to live.
“Although hosting the Olympics has subsequently provided a definite boost for London’s profile, it was already among the world’s most vibrant cities, with plenty to see and do, so has had no impact on overall lifestyle,” said Jon Copestake, the survey’s editor, quoted on The Telegraph.
How the cities are ranked
The cities are ranked in order to test whether companies should pay their staff a hardship allowance if they relocate them, reported Martin Beckford in The Telegraph. The list looks at crime levels, threats of conflict, medical care, censorship, temperature, transport and schools. London has slipped down the rankings because of the riots that blighted the city last year.
Why Australian cities?
Antipodean metropolises do so well, said Copestake, because they have low population density, and have invested in their infrastructure. London, meanwhile, is the victim of its own success, since its “big city buzz” means infrastructure is overstretched, whilst there are higher crime rates.
London is still the best
Andrew Hough, who was born in Adelaide, said on The Telegraph that whilst he loved Australia, he still was proud of his adopted city of London. It’s “one of the great cities of the world” and Londoners don’t “need a global survey to tell them otherwise.” London has a buzz; and Hough has grown “used to the extreme cost of housing” and transport. He misses Adelaide; but London has some better features – history, buildings, parks, nightlife, culture, people. “I absolutely love my adopted ity. And I know it is better than 55th place.”
What’s this? Norwich not ranked as one of the 50 best cities in the world to live? Outrageous.
— Matthew Tucker (@doomedrider) August 15, 2012
The top ten best cities
Melbourne, Australia
Vienna, Austria
Vancouver, Canada
Toronto, Canada
Calgary, Canada
Adelaide, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Helsinki, Finland
Perth, Australia
Auckland, New Zealand
The worst ten
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Tehran, Iran
Douala, Cameroon
Tripoli, Libya
Karachi, Pakistan
Algiers, Algeria
Harare, Zimbabwe
Lagos, Nigeria
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Dhaka, Bangladesh
